I enjoyed this very much. The writing is straight-forward middle reader style writing, which is to say uninteresting as far as sentence structure andI enjoyed this very much. The writing is straight-forward middle reader style writing, which is to say uninteresting as far as sentence structure and vocabulary goes. However, the story was inspiring, heart-wrenching, and heart-warming. There is a great deal of graphic violence - mostly of the animal on animal kind - that I found disturbing to read even as an adult.

The plentiful photographs are a nice way to break up the story for young readers who kinda need that, but the photos are mostly uninspiring, and a couple of them were even confusing. A few of them, particularly of the different orphaned animals interacting together (think Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom) were really sweet.

Very glad I read it. Great story that could have been told better by a more inspired writer, but still well worth reading....more